Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on December 25, 2007
(Christmas Day, Year A, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 98 or 98:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-12
John 1:1-14

“No woman ever conceived a child, no mare a foal, without Him. But once, and for a special purpose, He dispensed with that long line which is His instrument: once His life-giving finger touched a woman without passing through the ages of interlocked events. Once the great glove of Nature was taken off His hand. His naked hand touched her. There was of course a unique reason for it. That time He was creating not simply a man but the Man who was Himself: was creating Man anew: was beginning, at this divine and human point, the New Creation of all things. The whole soiled and weary universe quivered at this direct injection of essential life – direct, uncontaminated, not drained through all the crowed history of Nature.” Thus says C. S. Lewis about the virgin birth from his book, Miracles.

As I was reading this morning’s lessons, I couldn’t help but remember this quotation. Isaiah says, “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” The psalmist says, “With his right hand and holy arm has he won for himself the victory.” Can you see the picture in your head? God rolls up His sleeve, and takes the glove off of His hand and with His bare finger directly touches the womb of a woman, completely bypassing His own laws of Nature so that she will conceive and bear God Himself in human flesh thus personifying salvation in the person of Jesus.

Hebrews tells us that the Son “is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” Through the Incarnation God didn’t create just any man but a Man who was Himself. In my mind’s eye, I see a great intricate seal impressed into hot wax leaving an exact relief of the original. Where the one fits into the other is where the Divine and the human make contact. And through the Man, Jesus, we are able to make contact with God. Not just touching but nested one into the other.

And the Gospel of John tells us that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh.” The beginning point for a New Creation is where God and Man meet as One, unstained by original sin. Not a re-creation of what once was but a New Creation of what will be. Through Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to become what God always wanted us to be.

The Incarnation is an unfathomable mystery but thanks to the divinely inspired words of Holy Scripture and authors such as Lewis, we are able to catch a glimpse of the glory that awaits us in the kingdom of God. As we celebrate this mystery this morning, let us give thanks and praise to God for affording us the opportunity to share in His victory as His children and heirs of His kingdom.

Gloria Patri